| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: were as hard as hoofs. She promised to be good, and was allowed
to stay at home--though everyone realized she was as crazy as ever,
and she still ran about barefooted through the snow, telling her
domestic troubles to her neighbours.
Not long after Mary came back from the asylum, I heard a young Dane,
who was helping us to thresh, tell Jake and Otto that Chris Lingard's
oldest girl had put Ole Benson out of his head, until he had no
more sense than his crazy wife. When Ole was cultivating his corn
that summer, he used to get discouraged in the field, tie up
his team, and wander off to wherever Lena Lingard was herding.
There he would sit down on the drawside and help her watch her cattle.
My Antonia |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: thither side of thee, thou sun!"
Then gazing at his quadrant, and handling, one after the other, its
numerous cabalistical contrivances, he pondered again, and muttered:
"Foolish toy! babies' plaything of haughty Admirals, and Commodores,
and Captains; the world brags of thee, of thy cunning and might; but
what after all canst thou do, but tell the poor, pitiful point, where
thou thyself happenest to be on this wide planet, and the hand that
holds thee: no! not one jot more! Thou canst not tell where one drop
of water or one grain of sand will be to-morrow noon; and yet with
thy impotence thou insultest the sun! Science! Curse thee, thou
vain toy; and cursed be all the things that cast man's eyes aloft to
Moby Dick |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: guns as the savages were in America, where I had to do with them.
All this while, I knew not what was the matter, but rousing
immediately from sleep with the noise, I caused the boat to be
thrust in, and resolved with three fusees we had on board to land
and assist our men. We got the boat soon to the shore, but our men
were in too much haste; for being come to the shore, they plunged
into the water, to get to the boat with all the expedition they
could, being pursued by between three and four hundred men. Our
men were but nine in all, and only five of them had fusees with
them; the rest had pistols and swords, indeed, but they were of
small use to them.
Robinson Crusoe |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: every vestige of his nerve at this crucial moment of his life.
Leaping from the wheelhouse to the deck he ran backward
and forward shrieking at the top of his lungs begging and
entreating someone to save him, and offering fabulous rewards
to the man who carried him safely to the shore.
The sight of their captain in a blue funk had its effect upon
the majority of the crew, so that in a moment a pack of
screaming, terror-ridden men had supplanted the bravos and
bullies of the Halfmoon.
From the cabin companionway Barbara Harding looked
upon the disgusting scene. Her lip curled in scorn at the sight
The Mucker |
